
Marchand Covered Bridge in Fort-Coulonge.
'Fort Coulonge' is a village in the
Pontiac Regional County Municipality in western
Quebec, Canada. Its population in
2001 was 1,661, making it the most populous non-rural municipality in the county
[1]. It is also the
francophone centre of the otherwise largely (57%),
anglophone Pontiac MRC with 82.3 per cent listing French as their mother tongue in the
2001 Census [2].
History

Historic locations of Fort Coulonge.
Nicholas d'Ailleboust, Sieur de Coulonge, spent the winter of 1694-95 near the mouth of the
Coulonge River and so established one of the first settlements on the
Ottawa River.
The first trading post was called Fort-Coulonge. In 1760, the
Northwest Company took over its management and in 1821, the Fort became the property of the
Hudson's Bay Company. Until 1828, it served as the head post on the Ottawa River. The post's 655-acre (2.7 km²) farm was sold in 1844 and the buildings in 1855. The trading post became the village of Fort-Coulonge situated several kilometres down river.
The region's first sawmill was built by George Bryson in 1843. The first wooden chapel was built in 1873. It was destroyed by fire and replaced by a brick church in 1884. In 1886, the railway reached Fort-Coulonge. Fort-Coulonge became a municipality in 1888 and John Bryson was the first mayor.
References
1. Canada 2001 Census
2. Canada 2001 Census
External links
★
Fort-Coulonge (official site; English version)